In 1944, the Red Army delivers its third crushing blow on the Axis forces in eastern Europe: two major offensives to recapture the rest of Ukraine, and the Crimean peninsula.  Map 1: Northern Black Sea coast and southern Ukraine  The range where the two mighty blows were delivered. Ploesti, Romania is to the far left of the map, just north of Bucharest.   Map 2:    Map by Scott Bury   Map 3: The Red Army’s Crimean offensive, 1944   Image 1: Issa Pliyev, Commander, Cavalry-Mechanized Group     The Red Army, 4th Guards Cavalry Corps advancing across southern Ukraine, 1944   Miklós Horthy, Regent of Hungary, with Adolf Hitler in Budapest, 1938     The Red Army marches into “liberated” Odesa, 1944   Note the women soldiers in the ranks.  Sources: Prit Buttar, The Reckoning: The Defeat of Army Group South, 1944. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2020. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, The History Press, 2017.  Wikipedia: The Crimean Offensive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_offensive — The Odesa Offensive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odessa_Offensive  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

From the beginning of Russia’s illegal and brutal assault on sovereign Ukraine, Ukraine: The Latest has covered the war every week day. Francis Dearnley, Executive Editor for Audio for Ukraine: The Latest, joins the podcast to look at the historical links and parallels with the Eastern Front of World War 2. Francis Dearnley, Executive Editor for Audio, Ukraine: The Latest, from The Telegraph  Ukraine: The Latest, daily podcast from The Telegraph    David Knowles, creator of the Ukraine: The Latest podcast  Links Ukraine: The Latest on Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ukraine-the-latest/id1612424182) https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ukraine-the-latest/id1612424182 and available on all major podcast platforms. Francis Dearnley’s interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ukraine-the-latest/id1612424182?i=1000697448951)  Winston Churchill’s World War II memoirs (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/memoirs-of-the-second-world-war-winston-s-churchill?variant=39939195895842)   (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/memoirs-of-the-second-world-war-winston-s-churchill?variant=39939195895842) Guy Sajer’s The Forgotten Soldier  (https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/titles/guy-sajer/the-forgotten-soldier/9780304352401/)   (https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/titles/guy-sajer/the-forgotten-soldier/9780304352401/) Antony Beevor’s Berlin 1945  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 63: at the end of 1943, the situation for nazi Germany and communist USSR on the Eastern Front is radically different from the end of 1942. Plus, the Cairo and Tehran Conferences promise to reshape the geo-political world. Map 1: The Red Army advances to, and past the Wotan Line Map 2: The front lines, 15 November 1943     Map 3: The front lines, 31 December 1943    Historical photos: The German Panther (Panzer V) vs. the Soviet T-34-85   Soviet photo loading artillery at Nikopol bridgehead Sources: Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London, UK: Little, Brown and Co., 2012.  Prit Buttar, Retribution: The Soviet Reconquest of Central Ukraine, 1943. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2019. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Beyond Barbarossa is no longer the only podcast focusing on the Eastern Front of World War II. David Sumner, host and producer of the Europe at War podcast, joins to discuss the Battle of the Halbe Pocket.  The Europe at War podcast (https://tr.ee/faCigcYaE5) on all platforms: https://pohttps://tr.ee/faCigcYaE5   David Sumner, podcaster (https://davidsumnerhistory.com/) Map: The Battle of the Halbe Pocket, April 1945   Photos from David Sumner   The Halbe forest, 2025     A defensive hole dug in the floor of the Halbe Forest   A bullet shell with the round still inside it, the outer shell which corroded from being in the ground for eight decades.      The comb David Sumner found in the Halbe Forest   From the Halbe Pocket battle   General Theodor Busse     General Walther Wenke      Arden nazi Ferdinand Shorner  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Russian occupation of Ukraine today is not the first time. Here are some readings that can make it real for today’s listeners.  Map: Ukraine under occupation, 1941–1943 Source: Ukraine, A Historical Atlas by Paul Robert Magosci and Geoffrey J. Matthews Sources Lubomyr Luciuk, The Galicia Division: They Fought for Ukraine. The Kashtan Press, 2023. Scott Bury, Under the Nazi Heel. Ottawa, ON: The Written Word Communications Co., 2016.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

A special episode of Beyond Barbarossa. What happened in Washington DC on 28 February 2025 has echoes of 1938, and ominous omens for the future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In the north and the south, the Red Amy makes great advances in the Eastern Front in February 1944.  Map 1: The Eastern Front, February 1944 Map 2: Popov’s Baltic Front pushes the Germans back to Lake Peipus   Map 3: German forces in the Dnipro Bend, February 1944    Map 4: The European theatre at the end of February 1944.     Map 5: The Pacific theatre    Markian Popov    Nikolai Vatutin   The Chindits in Burma, 1944 Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In January and February 1944, Stalin's "broad front" strategy takes hold and the Red Army gains the momentum in the war on the Eastern Front. Map 1: The Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket    Map 2: The Advance on Narva   Map 3: The Battle of Narva and Lake Peipus What looks like "Hapba" is Cyrillic script for "Narva." The inset shows the southern end of Lake Peipus and the Red Army's temporary  bridgehead on the west side. Map 4: The Panther Line      Map 5: The breakout to Lysyanka    Map 6a: The Eastern Front 15 January 1944   Map 6b: The Eastern Front 15 February 1944     Image 1: Ivan S. Konev, commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front    Image 2: Nikolai Vatutin, commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front   Sources Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London, UK: Little, Brown and Co., 2012.  Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Orest Subtelny, Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988. Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin's War 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2017.Wikipedia, various pages.         Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The first two of ten "crushing blows" against the German invaders of the USSR in 1944: Zhitomyr and Leningrad.  Map 1: The Zhitomyr-Berdichiv Offensive    Map 2: Cherkassy or Kherson Pocket     Map 3: Leningrad, 1941–1943 Map 4: Leningrad lifeline     Map 5: Operation Iskra    Map 6: Operation Polar Star    Map 7: Liberation of Leningrad, push to Panther Line  Sources Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London, UK: Little, Brown and Co., 2012.  Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Anna Reid, Leningrad: Tragedy of a City Under Siege, 1941–44. Toronto: Allen Lane Canada, 2011. Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin's War 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2017. Prit Buttar, Retribution: The Soviet Reconquest of Central Ukraine, 1943. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2019. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What was the USSR doing between September 1939 and June 1941? It was allied with nazi Germany, of course. Historian Roger Moorhouse, author of books including The Devils' Alliance, describes the lasting impact of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and the strategic factors that ended it.  Roger Moorhouse   The Devils' Alliance    Roger Moorhouse's books: https://www.rogermoorhouse.com/books (https://www.rogermoorhouse.com/books)  Map: The division of eastern Europe according to the secret protocols of the pact  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.